Chapter 57 - Ch.57

(Hi everyone, it's been a while, huh? Many things happened to me, including overtime and a broken cellphone which I inadvertently dropped in the snow, and if that wasn't enough, I kicked it after not realizing I dropped it... yeah, it's broken, I'll buy another one soon :)

Here is a chapter with a time skip cause. We'll advance this story for once, be glad, time skip lovers!)

------

(Year 995, January, five years before the original cannon)

Two years and seven months since their expedition when they met the Astraea familia, many things happened.

Firstly, Ais and Aidan never stopped their training with Riveria and Finn, respectively. They significantly increased their skills, intending to fight more vigorous opponents at the same level. This training not only allowed them to be more proficient in fighting monsters but also in fighting humans. With the growth of Evilus during those two years, they were often attacked in the dungeon, and this training became essential to protect their lives and not be taken out in an ambush.

However, Aidan soon learned that Ais's training was not only about magic and swordsmanship, but also to help her communicate with others, not that he thought Riveria would make a great teacher for this specific aspect as she was just like Ais, cold to strangers. However, he still wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud.

Secondly, three months before the new year of 993 (7 years before cannon), both youngsters managed to level up to three. However, with the constant fighting which happened not only in the dungeon but also in the city, which became less and less secure, none of the two became happy with their current strength and redoubled their efforts in the dungeon. At the same time, they were both the youngest lv. Three adventurers, it wasn't enough for them as older people could quickly kill them, and countless monsters in the dungeon were stronger than them.

However, Loki slowed down, who didn't want them only to spend their lives fighting. As such, except for the constant fighting in the dungeon and training, Aidan continued to renovate the church, which was a lot more similar to a manor now, and a high class one with the countless cards in various parts of the mansion to improve it. Cards such as lighting, heating, coldness, security, reinforcement were placed around the villa, making it one of a kind.

Once Aidan finished the mansion and the base for the teleportation array, he turned a bit towards blacksmithing to do essential maintenance on his equipment while in the dungeon. Moreover, it was too good to pass when Hephaestus herself agreed to train him from time to time when she had time. Well, it was not that Aidan was that interested in blacksmithing, but Loki forced him to find something else than adventuring every day with Ais.

Thankfully, having developed his teleportation formations allowed the two of them to spend some time in the dungeon each day despite Loki's demands. Moreover, the teleportation array soon became extremely important to the two of them since the Loki familia made an expedition to the low floors, and they reached all the way to floor 50, the safe zone of the dungeon. Aidan certainly didn't forget to put a teleportation array on this floor since it took the familia a whole week to reach this floor.

Except for the training and the monsters, Evilus moved a few months after they became level four. On the 24th floor of the dungeon, Aidan and Ais stumbled upon the Astraea familia fighting hundreds of adventurers, all members of Evilus. With their assistance, the Astraea familia managed to escape from the siege unscathed, thanks to the countless cards used to protect and heal the members who were already on the verge of death.

Finally, the two of them levelled up to level five, making them the youngest first-class adventurers in Orario ever since the gods descended and granted their falna upon mortals.

---

"Congratulations to the two new level five of the familia~!" Shouted Loki, completely drunk as she was standing on the table in the hostess of Fertility, facing other members of the familia.

"Yeah!" Shouted the crowd of adventurers as they lifted their mug of alcohol in the air with great vigour, causing a lot of the drink to fall to the ground out of their cup.

The two concerned youngsters were currently sitting at Loki's table, the same one being stepped on by the shoeless Loki.

"So, what are we gonna do from tomorrow onwards?" Asked Ais as she drank fruit juice next to Aidan.

"Let's take a break until the next expedition. We've been in the dungeon most of our time since joining the Loki familia. We could take a one-month break." Answered Aidan as he wished to breathe fresh air from the surface for a while.

"Huh? Do we have another expedition? But, it's not necessary anymore, isn't it?" Asked Ais, confused, as she knew Aidan had explained the teleportation formation he had created on all the safe floors of the dungeon until the fiftieth floor to Loki.

"No, this time, it's not for the resources of the deep floors since we can go there rather easily. This time, it's to give a chance to the others in the familia to fight stronger monsters in a group in the hope that it will allow a few of them to level up." Answered Aidan as he knew why she asked.

"When is it?" Asked the girl as she leaned her head on Aidan's shoulder while sipping her fruit juice.

"A month later." He replied as he leaned his head on the girl's as he relaxed a bit.

After having lived together ever since they were seven years old, spending countless nights huddled together in the dungeon, fighting side by side to make it together or fall together, they had long gotten highly close as they both believed in the other more than they believed in themselves. They both knew that the other would never hurt or abandon them, and it allowed them to be extremely close and live together with no reservations.

---

A few days later, as the two were walking around the city, hoping to find something interesting to do, the two teammates encountered a crowd surrounding amazon as they were declaring their superiority and strength haughtily while challenging everyone around.

As such, for the bored Ais and Aidan, it became pretty interesting as they rapidly made their way across the crowd and faced the two amazonesses with attractive smiles.

"We'll challenge you." Said Aidan as he took out his sword, which Ais quickly copied as they stared at the two amazonesses who had shown a smile full of battle intent.

A moment later, as both duos stared at each other, they sprinted towards the opponent with enough force to break the stone on the ground as they soon clashed weapons together.